Want to ‘drastically’ decrease arrival of refugees in Germany: Merkel

“Even a strong country like Germany is in the long term overstrained by such a large number of refugees”, Merkel said.

But in her keynote address to more than 3,000 Christian Democrat (CDU) delegates at a party congress in Karlsruhe, Ms Merkel effectively threw down the gauntlet to the rest of Europe and insisted that it share the burden in helping to solve the problem.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel walks past the party logo during a party convention of the Christian Democrats (CDU) in Karlsruhe, Germany, Monday, Dec. 14, 2015.

However, Merkel refused to change her general attitude towards the refuge crisis or introduce an upper limit on the potential number of asylum seekers that Germany would accept.

Over time, Merkel’s tone has shifted from a refusal to set any limits on migration to her private statements to party members in November that she would support limiting immigration.

“Those who seek refuge with us also have to respect our laws and traditions, and learn to speak German”, she said.

Ahead of an European Union summit this week, Dr Merkel said she was banking on a multi-pronged approach to cut refugee numbers, urging bolstered protection for the bloc’s external borders, support for Turkey to host refugees long-term, and a long-shot bid for a distribution scheme among European Union member states.

The compromise text, due to be passed later Monday, instead calls for a “tangible reduction of asylum seekers and refugees”.

“We want to, and we will, noticeably reduce the number of refugees”, she said to applause at the congress in Karlsruhe, in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, which holds a state election next March.

Ms Merkel said she was committed to sharing the burden of the crisis with Germany’s European Union neighbours.

“Germany should be a country that is open, curious, tolerant and even exciting”, she added, painting an upbeat vision for the future and stressing how far the country had come since she took power a decade ago.

TIME magazine recently named Merkel its person of the year for her efforts in dealing with the European Union refugee and Greek debt crises, as well as for her leadership role in the European Union during troubled times.

But her open-door stance has drawn fire at home and in many corners of Europe, with critics accusing her of having a big heart but no clear strategy. Critics believed that her current policy was inappropriate and demanded a cap on the number of refugees entering Germany.

In a rousing speech, Merkel recounted a remarkable year that has seen Germany stand up to Russian Federation over the Ukraine crisis, broker a deal to keep Greece in the euro zone, and welcome hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war and deprivation in the Middle East.

Nevertheless, the CDU has recovered its footing in the polls after a steep drop in the autumn and is now tallying about 39 per cent.